Students of the Engineering Department, from the Faculty of Science of Technology (FST) of the University of Belize are the 2016 champions of the “XVIII Concurso De Diseño Y Construccion De Modelos Estructurales, V Fase Internacional”, hosted by the Instituto Tecnologico De Chetumal (ITCH) in Quintana Roo Mexico from November 23-25th, 2016.
The competition is hosted every year and UB has officially participated for the past 5 years. Preparations for this competition included students participating in the UB Engineering Department’s 8th Annual Macaroni Competition held on 13th and 14th of October at the University’s Freetown Road campus in Belize City. The top two teams represent UB in Chetumal. These students are second year engineering students and they competed with 3rd and 4th year students at the ITCH.
The students were among thirty- four teams who competed in a challenge to design and build a scaled structural model of a bridge. The model had to be built to meet certain specification and students were limited to time, size and types of materials. Materials used included silicon glue, macaroni, plastic bottles and aluminium tin cans.
At the end of the two day competition, the team comprised of UB students Irvin Ruiz, Brandon Williams, Kyle Middleton, Timothy Gentle and Staelens Sanchez came out victorious. They won the competition based on the load the model withstood, the efficiency based on the weight of the model and the effective use of the given materials. The winning prize was awarded Diplomas, five tablets, and a cash prize of 5000 pesos.
The structures competition at ITCH, in addition to exposure to an international competition, it also gives UB students the opportunity to interact with past graduates of the Engineering Department studying at the Instituto Technologico as well as develop new friendships. The UB contingent also gets the opportunity to build cordial relationship with the Faculty from the Departmento de Ciencias de la Tierra of the Instituto Tecnologico De Chetumal.
Having participated in the competition since 2010, the University of Belize Faculty of Science and Technology used this year’s event to embark on formalizing collaborative relationships between both Institutions. The Dean, FST, Ms. Juliane Pasos and the Chair of the Engineering Department, Mr. Leonard Mortis, met with the Directors of the ITCH to discuss possible collaboration efforts. Possible student and faculty exchange opportunities were also discussed as well as research collaborations in other areas of study.
For more on the competition visit the website for the Instituto Tecnologico De Chetumal and the Novedades Quintana Roo at:
http://itchetumal.edu.mx/?p=11160
http://sipse.com/novedades/xviii-concurso-de-construccion-y-diseno-de-modelos-estructurales-tecnologico-chetumal-231972.html
The Engineering Department thanks the Office of the President, Provost, Director of Student Affairs, Dean, Faculty of Science & Technology, the Belize City Student Government, Engineering Department Competition Coordinator Mr. Lloyd Carrillo and faculty, staff and students of the Engineering Department for lending support to this initiative. This is a major win for UB and Belize!
